Emissions slow as debate hots up

Australia’s carbon emissions will drop this year to be 10 million tonnes, or 3 per cent less than if there wasn’t a carbon price, research from carbon and sustainability firm RepuTex said.

Emissions from the metals industry will fall 6.47 per cent and power produced through renewable generation will increase, RepuTex said, adding that energy remains the largest source of emissions while high gas prices make it harder to compete with subsidised coal.

“We see coal maintaining its share of Australia’s generation mix through 2016 when government assistance to brown coal expires," said RepuTex associate director Bret Harper. “From that point the floating carbon price is expected to provide good support to renewable generation, so we expect a decline in power emissions from 2017-18."

The $23 per tonne carbon pricing scheme began in July 2012 and will move to a floating price as part of an emissions trading scheme in 2013. Labor added a $1.3 billion coal assistance package to the outcome of the Multi-Party Climate Change Commission’s original climate package to support jobs in the sector.

“We’re seeing the combined impact of both carbon pricing and major sectoral changes within the Australian economy steadily shifting the country’s emissions profile," Mr Harper said, pointing to five new oil and gas developments making up about 40 per cent of the energy sector’s emissions in 2020.

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